Posted by ReyFort Media
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala capped a banner year wearing a Philippine jersey, winning the country’s first Southeast Asian Games women’s tennis singles gold in 26 years.
Eala stamped her class and oulasted home bet Mananchaya Sawangkaew, 6-1, 6-2, to rule the 33rd SEA Games and deliver the historic gold in front of Filipino fans cheering on Thursday at National Tennis Development Center in Nonthaburi, Thailand.
After dominating the opening set, Eala had to overcome a challenging second frame, where she complained about the calls of the linesman and found herself tied at 2-2 against Sawangkaew.
But the Team Philippines flag bearer displayed grace under pressure, winning four straight games.
Tied at 30 in eighth game, Eala scored off a strong backhand to take the lead, followed by a fault from Sawangkaew to complete her historic campaign.
After clinching the win, Eala hugged her parents, ran around the court with the Philippine flag, and celebrated with the Philippine national tennis team.
The 20-year-old player dominated right from the get-go with a 3-0 start before Sawangkaew stopped the bleeding. Eala got the better of the Thai in the last three games to draw the first blood.
Eala became the third Filipino to win a gold medal in women’s tennis singles, joining an elite group of Pia Tamayo, who won in 1981 Manila games, and Maricris Fernandez in the 1999 Brunei edition.
Before Eala, the last tennis singles gold for Team Philippines was delivered by Cecil Mamiit in the men’s division when he won the last of his ‘three-peat’ in 2009.
It was a great end to the year for the Filipino tennis ace, start with her dream semifinal run in the Miami Open, where she took down three Grand Slam champions to earn main draw berths in the French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open, where she earned her first win.
The Rafa Nadal Academy graduate also won her first Women’s Tennis Association crown in the Guadalajara 125 Open in September and made a new career-high world ranking of No.50 last month.
Eala finished with a gold and a pair of bronze from the mixed doubles and team event in this year’s SEA Games
She and Niño Alcantara fell to home bets Patcharin Cheapchandej and Pawit Sornlaksup in the mixed doubles semifinal, 7-5, 5-7, 7-10.
She also received a medal from the team event, where she was listed but did not see action, with Shaira Rivera, Alexa Milliam, Tennielle Madis, and Stefi Aludo.
It was Eala’s second SEA Games stint. She won three bronze medals in her debut at the 2021 Vietnam SEA Games.
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